Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I know my colleague, Senator Joe O'Reilly, has been a long-standing advocate of gambling regulation and will agree with what the Minister of State has been saying. I also agree. I particularly welcome the fact that throughout this discussion, both before now and today, we have used the word "gambling" rather than "gaming". The industry has attempted to use the more socially acceptable term "gaming" when what we are talking about is gambling. In recent years, the gambling industry has changed significantly. Gone are the small bookmakers we might remember. It is now much more a corporate, global industry. We have heard other Senators talking about how this particularly exists online and the impacts of advertising. The organisations behind gambling in Ireland are often not really known to us and are certainly not local. I welcome the idea of a regulator in this regard and look forward to the proposals the Department will bring forward.

Other calls for a single regulator are very important. We sometimes have a propensity in this country to have multiple agencies looking after different aspects of an area when, in fact, this issue crosses over many different areas. Having a single regulator with an eye on all aspects of gambling is tremendously important. In that regard, I think Dún Laoghaire would be an excellent location for its headquarters. We do not need to go to Wexford because the transport links to Dún Laoghaire are excellent. I would welcome that being considered.

The Minister of State will be aware that I have this week put forward a proposal for a Bill in respect of the national lottery. The latter is one of the few areas of gambling in respect of which there is regulation. There is a licence given by the State and there are safeguards in place. The national lottery is still gambling but there are restrictions in place to protect consumers to a certain extent. They can only spend so much on it per day and cannot bet after certain hours. That is in stark contrast with some of the online gambling offerings that are now available where people can bet large sums of money at any hour of the day or night, no matter their state of sobriety or state of mind. Those safeguards are not there for private betting organisations. The difficulty is that some of those bookmaking organisations are entitled to use the national lottery infrastructure to make money and make betting offers to consumers around Ireland. The reason that is a bad thing is because for the small shops throughout this country that give people access to the lotto and for the national lottery itself, there is a significant cost to the implementation of the infrastructure, both in terms of centrally drawing the numbers but also the machines that go into every shop across the country. That costs money. It is there for a reason and is a part of a collective, regulated industry. If we allow private companies to make profit out of that, we are taking revenue out of that stream and giving it to private organisations.

Another important thing is that up to 30 cent of every euro that is gathered by the national lottery in respect of its products goes back into the community through a good causes fund. That does not happen with private gambling organisations. A bookmaker in Ireland takes that money and profit. That is legitimate but the reality is that from the point of view of a social dividend, there is a much greater good available to the State through the national lottery.

People here have spoken about addiction and that is probably at the root of all of this. I am not opposed to gambling because it is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. In moderation, which is, thankfully, the only way I would ever do it, it can be enjoyable and worthwhile. The difficulty, as we have heard from other speakers, is there are people who are not able to do that, just as there are people who are not able to take other things in moderation, and I include myself in that regard. Such people are equally exposed to the constant barrage of advertising and attention from gambling organisations that attempt to draw them into their custom.The reality is that this has a very negative impact on them. Since there is a constant barrage, both online and on television but even on radio, it is a genuine problem. I absolutely agree with the sentiments expressed by Senators not just on regulating advertising but also on restricting it and the extent to which we can continue to invade the space of those who may be susceptible to becoming gambling addicts. We have heard from other Senators on the significant impact this can have. I have met and spoken to victims of a gambling addiction. It is as pervasive as any other addiction and we must step in to protect those affected.

I hope, based on what the Minister of State said about the gambling regulator, that there is an opportunity for the State to safeguard its citizens and to have a gambling regulator that has an eye out not for the industry but the consumer and that is willing to step in to identify the vulnerable and outline what it will do to protect them from exposure to what the gambling industry is doing. I welcome that idea and the fact that there is now an opportunity for the State to step in and protect people.